YOU need to watch the Canadian movie "Net Worth" about how players were consistantly FUCKED by owners like the Norris brothers and Conn Smythe.

anyone who blames unions for everything is a FOOL

Cant blame unions for everything, but they certainly have lost their "true intended purpose". Keeping the worker from getting screwed and helping them keep their job is one thing, but constantly complaining and going on strike and hamstringing your employer is another....

Flutie, I'm good with all the above but why did you leave out the great old franchise of the Chicago Blackhawks and all their great fans? The number would have to be 16 teams, 8 in Canada and 8 in the States. What do you think of this?

I would replace your Capitals selection with San Jose. Hosershark fans have supported their team since the entered the league. always sell out and it's "the loudest building in the league". the statement that "The Capitals fans for a number of years supported one of the most horrific hockey teams the NHL has ever seen" is false. Washington was a VERY weak money losing franchise for years.

Pittsburgh also has strong support for the Penguins. sell out every game @ CEC a AND their fans "travel". a Penguins @ Panthers game has more fans from Pittsburgh than Florida. used to be the same in Washington "before Ovechkin". more Penguins fans at games than local Capital fans. they would do better than the Blues.

I could actually see more of a 22 team "9 and 13" split with the 8 Canadian cities mentioned plus Ottawa and the 8 Americans WITH San Jose,Pittsburgh, Minnesota, Buffalo, who, like Detroit, get a lot of "cross border" fans, and (suprise) Tampa. the Lightning actually draw pretty well considering they are in a "southern city" non-traditional market.

you get right down to it and the only real "trouble" teams in the league right now are the Coyotes in Phoenix, Panthers in Miami-Ft Lauderdale, the Bluejackets in Columbus, the Islanders on Long Island and the Stars in Dallas. the others usually at least broke even under the last contract. THAT can be correct by moving some to better markets like Hamilton, Quebec City, Seattle (?), 2nd teams in the Toronto and Montreal markets (?) or even Saskatoon, Saskatchewan (?) which is a smaller city but VERY wealthy. think Green Bay Packers in the NFL. I remember that Saskatoon almost grabbed the Blues in 1987 when they were having financial problems.

You guys don't consider Denver a solid market?? I don't see how everyone thinks more teams up north is the answer, there is only so much sportsnet broadcasts revenue to go around and if/when the Canadian dollar losses ground to the US greenback things could easy go bad again for Canadian teams minus the Habs and Leafs of coarse.

I'm too pro worker. in fact I would make it SO good for the players they would not NEED a union. I would use the Green Bay model and have the community own the teams. no more greedy, grabby owners looking to make a buck at any price. revenue sharing to support smaller market team within reason BUT NOT letting the likes of a Phoenix or Florida "free ride". for teams like that it's "move or die". would definately concentrate more on Canada and the Northern US where the FANS ARE. AND I would definately NOT have any shyster New York lawyers on my staff

Flutie, I'm good with all the above but why did you leave out the great old franchise of the Chicago Blackhawks and all their great fans? The number would have to be 16 teams, 8 in Canada and 8 in the States. What do you think of this?

I would replace your Capitals selection with San Jose. Hosershark fans have supported their team since the entered the league. always sell out and it's "the loudest building in the league". the statement that "The Capitals fans for a number of years supported one of the most horrific hockey teams the NHL has ever seen" is false. Washington was a VERY weak money losing franchise for years.

Pittsburgh also has strong support for the Penguins. sell out every game @ CEC a AND their fans "travel". a Penguins @ Panthers game has more fans from Pittsburgh than Florida. used to be the same in Washington "before Ovechkin". more Penguins fans at games than local Capital fans. they would do better than the Blues.

I could actually see more of a 22 team "9 and 13" split with the 8 Canadian cities mentioned plus Ottawa and the 8 Americans WITH San Jose,Pittsburgh, Minnesota, Buffalo, who, like Detroit, get a lot of "cross border" fans, and (suprise) Tampa. the Lightning actually draw pretty well considering they are in a "southern city" non-traditional market.

you get right down to it and the only real "trouble" teams in the league right now are the Coyotes in Phoenix, Panthers in Miami-Ft Lauderdale, the Bluejackets in Columbus, the Islanders on Long Island and the Stars in Dallas. the others usually at least broke even under the last contract. THAT can be correct by moving some to better markets like Hamilton, Quebec City, Seattle (?), 2nd teams in the Toronto and Montreal markets (?) or even Saskatoon, Saskatchewan (?) which is a smaller city but VERY wealthy. think Green Bay Packers in the NFL. I remember that Saskatoon almost grabbed the Blues in 1987 when they were having financial problems.

Actually....Tampa Bay is where many thousand Canadians go after they retire, that is one reason why the hockey market is strong there.

Finally, someone has mentioned Saskatoon....I'm not sure why this city does not have a hockey team..the one pro sports team that they do have in Saskatchewan (if you want to call it that), gets huge support...the Rider fans are everywhere and will travel anywhere. I'm sure they would fill the rink every game....yet, not even on the radar.

Actually....Tampa Bay is where many thousand Canadians go after they retire, that is one reason why the hockey market is strong there.

quick question about Canadian retirees in Florida, Cannon88. does the Canadian National Health still pay their medical bills IF they move out of Canada after they retire OR do they then need a private health insurance policy?

Flutie, I'm good with all the above but why did you leave out the great old franchise of the Chicago Blackhawks and all their great fans? The number would have to be 16 teams, 8 in Canada and 8 in the States. What do you think of this?

I would replace your Capitals selection with San Jose. Hosershark fans have supported their team since the entered the league. always sell out and it's "the loudest building in the league". the statement that "The Capitals fans for a number of years supported one of the most horrific hockey teams the NHL has ever seen" is false. Washington was a VERY weak money losing franchise for years.

Pittsburgh also has strong support for the Penguins. sell out every game @ CEC a AND their fans "travel". a Penguins @ Panthers game has more fans from Pittsburgh than Florida. used to be the same in Washington "before Ovechkin". more Penguins fans at games than local Capital fans. they would do better than the Blues.

I could actually see more of a 22 team "9 and 13" split with the 8 Canadian cities mentioned plus Ottawa and the 8 Americans WITH San Jose,Pittsburgh, Minnesota, Buffalo, who, like Detroit, get a lot of "cross border" fans, and (suprise) Tampa. the Lightning actually draw pretty well considering they are in a "southern city" non-traditional market.

you get right down to it and the only real "trouble" teams in the league right now are the Coyotes in Phoenix, Panthers in Miami-Ft Lauderdale, the Bluejackets in Columbus, the Islanders on Long Island and the Stars in Dallas. the others usually at least broke even under the last contract. THAT can be correct by moving some to better markets like Hamilton, Quebec City, Seattle (?), 2nd teams in the Toronto and Montreal markets (?) or even Saskatoon, Saskatchewan (?) which is a smaller city but VERY wealthy. think Green Bay Packers in the NFL. I remember that Saskatoon almost grabbed the Blues in 1987 when they were having financial problems.

I did mean to include a team in Ottawa, that was just an error on my part and that makes it easier. They can replace Washington. Washington was just to fill an 8th team in America as I did not know who else to use, mind you I disagree with you a bit on your harshness towards them because very few teams would have survived the early years the Capitals had, even the great hockey city of Minnesota failed to support their team when they could not bring home a Cup. I mean the Capitals were a complete abomination for a long time and I have no idea how anyone attended those games for so long, I don't care if they lost money the fact they retained a fan base is kind of incredible. But I will agree they too are a bit of a weakling and would not be missed either.

San Jose is not a bad idea, yes they have been pretty loyal so I can get on board with that.

There is no way in hell you can have a team in Buffalo if there is one in Hamilton, and there should be one in Hamilton so those people don't have to keep driving to Buffalo and fill another teams arena in another damn country! You take the Canadian fans out of the Sabres arena and they are done, a fact the NHL knows all too well, which is why they won't give Hamilton a team.

I will simply agree to disagree about your Penguins even though it may ruffle your feathers. The NHL saved that franchise, by I believe gift wrapping Lemieux and then Crosby for them and without Stanley Cups in that city that fan base would have been dead a long time ago but that is just my humble opinion. I did use to enjoy watching those "old" Penguins when I was a kid though so we could give it a go I guess.

Minnesota lost a franchise once and that's enough, thanks. I do like the idea of hockey there though, it's a great hockey city. Not sure what happened the first time, they got to go to a couple of Finals which is more than a lot of fans get to see. Wonder how long they will keep going this time if they don't get a Cup. Lou Nanne was the man.

Yes all the retired Canadians in Tampa do create a viable market down there. But I do wonder what would have happened though if they actually counted that goal Calgary's Gelinas scored on them and Calgary had gotten the Cup like they earned. I wonder if they would have enough fans still hanging on??? Hmmmm

Saskatoon is an excellent idea and it's crazy how they have never gotten a franchise. But I think there anonymity in American is what keeps them down. The American politics simply do not fit for the Prairie boys unfortunately

I guess I am thinking more along the lines of natural, loyal, diehard fans and not ones the NHL office helped create?

I hear you bear, only gary can hold a draft behind closed doors and in a secret location with only the owners and no other witnesses. Fishy considering the Penguins were averaging 11k a game (last in the league) and just scooped up the worlds best player, Sid Crosby. Pens had won cups with Mario Lemieux and they still lost interest.

Anyway i have another idea. A league can be formed using a multi tier sytem like they have in soccer. There is Division A teams and Division B teams. Majority of Div A are large market teams like Tor, Mtl, Chi, Phil, Nyr, Det, Van, Edm, Bos, Calg. LA and a few others. Div B teams will have majority of teams in smaller markets like Hamilton, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Quebec City, Portland, Hartford, Seattle, Tampa, Cleveland, Regina, etc. At seasons end, the bottom 3 teams in Div A get demoted to B and the top 3 Div B teams get Promoted to Div A. Could that work? For the league to cancel this season, their 3rd lockout, it would basically mean that the current system just doesn't work. Say bye bye to gary and his mob friends Polar bear

OMG, the NHL is ranked 5th in the US...holy crap...knowing that, i will never watch hockey again!! I mean, why would i want to watch a sport thats ranked 5th in the US??? Fukk that garbage. Hey josbran, where is nascar ranked in the US, i dont want to be left behind. I`ll let you in on something that`s not very secretive where i live....35,000,000 people north of the 49th parallel watch hockey, My entire family, aunt, uncle, cousins, neighbours, mechanic, butcher and the local pastor ALL watch hockey!!. So right about now, you can shove that 5th ranking right up your arse. Also, i will guarantee you that you WOULDNT WATCH the alleged top 4 sports if you didnt wager on them. Oh and one other thing, if the NHL is dead, its because of 15 completely useless broke disinterested American teams that was forced onto us by one of your own...a cocksucker person midget person lawyer who has never played the game in his life.

First off putting Hockey in the South was just plain stupid no one in the south gives a crap about hockey the south is all about College Football,and Nascar

Flutie, I'm good with all the above but why did you leave out the great old franchise of the Chicago Blackhawks and all their great fans? The number would have to be 16 teams, 8 in Canada and 8 in the States. What do you think of this?

I would replace your Capitals selection with San Jose. Hosershark fans have supported their team since the entered the league. always sell out and it's "the loudest building in the league". the statement that "The Capitals fans for a number of years supported one of the most horrific hockey teams the NHL has ever seen" is false. Washington was a VERY weak money losing franchise for years.

Pittsburgh also has strong support for the Penguins. sell out every game @ CEC a AND their fans "travel". a Penguins @ Panthers game has more fans from Pittsburgh than Florida. used to be the same in Washington "before Ovechkin". more Penguins fans at games than local Capital fans. they would do better than the Blues.

I could actually see more of a 22 team "9 and 13" split with the 8 Canadian cities mentioned plus Ottawa and the 8 Americans WITH San Jose,Pittsburgh, Minnesota, Buffalo, who, like Detroit, get a lot of "cross border" fans, and (suprise) Tampa. the Lightning actually draw pretty well considering they are in a "southern city" non-traditional market.

you get right down to it and the only real "trouble" teams in the league right now are the Coyotes in Phoenix, Panthers in Miami-Ft Lauderdale, the Bluejackets in Columbus, the Islanders on Long Island and the Stars in Dallas. the others usually at least broke even under the last contract. THAT can be correct by moving some to better markets like Hamilton, Quebec City, Seattle (?), 2nd teams in the Toronto and Montreal markets (?) or even Saskatoon, Saskatchewan (?) which is a smaller city but VERY wealthy. think Green Bay Packers in the NFL. I remember that Saskatoon almost grabbed the Blues in 1987 when they were having financial problems.

I was wondering why they just did not bring in replacement players like they did in the last baseball and football work stoppages. That seems to settle the problem pretty quickly when these players thought someone else would be taking over their job.

I was wondering why they just did not bring in replacement players like they did in the last baseball and football work stoppages. That seems to settle the problem pretty quickly when these players thought someone else would be taking over their job.

It's not as easy to do with the NHL > Copy and Pasted

Under either scenario, the league could try to use non-NHLers as
replacement players. But Quebec and British Columbia do not allow
replacement workers in most circumstances. Also, Canada and U.S. laws
forbid the use of replacement workers from outside the country, which
could leave U.S. teams restricted to using American players and Canadian
teams restricted to Canadian players. And could those players cross
borders to play games?

Activities offered by advertising links to other sites may be deemed an illegal activity in certain jurisdictions. Viewers are specifically warned that they should inquire into the legality of participating in any games and/or activities offered by such other sites. The owner of this website assumes no responsibility for the actions by and makes no representation or endorsement of any of these games and/or activities offered by the advertiser. As a condition of viewing this website viewers agree to hold the owner of this website harmless from any claims arising from the viewer’s participation in any of the games and/or activities offered by the advertiser.